The Merry Fiddler, Gerard van Honthorst, 1623

The man wearing extravagant Italian-looking clothing takes us by surprise. He appears from behind a tapestry and leans out of the window. He tries to engage with the viewer in order to clink glasses. So lifelike and convincing is Honthorst’s rendering that the fiddler seems to have slipped out from the frame of the painting to join us.